On 4/11/2023 at 8:29 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

They put all of these great quotes in their movies and never live by them.

Kevin Feige and those folks at Marvel Studios live by the greatest Marvel quote of all, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

On 4/11/2023 at 4:25 AM, Bosco685 said:

Whatever they're paying you, I hope they included MCU Phase IV-V hazardous duty pay. You're earning it.

Because I’m posting posts about the The Marvels trailer in the The Marvels thread?

?????

On 4/10/2023 at 9:41 PM, Cat said:

The trailer can keep being tomorrow. 

Black Panther makes the bulk of its profits in North America which gives Disney a bigger take of the profits as opposed to international box office.

On 4/9/2023 at 2:59 PM, media_junkie said:

Ouch....$65 million domestic run.

Super Mario made almost as much in one day as Shazam 2’s total domestic run so far. It’s not good to be a goofy second string superhero at the movies these days.

The Marvels First Trailer Reportedly Releasing This Week

Tuesday, April 11

I say IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is the all-time perfect American film. It’s so perfect that it’s one of a handful of classic movies that millions of Americans still gather round each year to watch. George Bailey is the perfect American hero in a story that never lets up. He’s a big dreamer stuck in the dregs of a small town filled with folks content with the small life. And even though real life keeps him from living what he considers to be a full life, his character still lives life to the fullest at every moment even if he doesn’t realize it, and not just because he keeps putting others before himself. Whether he’s shakily doing the Charleston in a school gym, waltzing in the pool beneath it, courting Mary with the song Buffalo Gals instead of just kissing her, or saving the Bailey Building and Loan from a bank run, George not only thinks big but he acts on those intuitions. And when he dreams up one last big act, ending his life to save his family’s, the powers above give him a set of wings one better than Clarence the angel’s and two better than his little brother Harry’s aviator wings, wings that take him to the Twilight Zone and back, giving him a pretty unique outlook on life. It’s feel good, tragic, endlessly entertaining, and thought provoking. ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE is the perfect American movie. 

Happy Easter shout out to the Ewoks, maybe the most under appreciated characters in all the Star Wars universe. The Empire underestimated them and fans still underrate them. They represent what Star Wars is all about. A farm boy from a desert planet takes out the Empire’s most dangerous weapon. A little green creature who talks funny and who lives on a remote swamp planet is one of the universe’s most powerful beings. And the mechanized mighty Goliath Empire is taken down in part by the sticks and stones of the overlooked furry forest creature Ewoks  who look more cuddly than cunning. The modest and meek shall inherit the Star Wars universe. Hail to the Ewoks!

On 4/6/2023 at 1:06 AM, drotto said:

The critics do not matter that much.  While, I can not deny that overwhelming critical response at either extreme my affect box office, it is not the only factor.  I have seen many instances where the fans and critics clearly disagree on a film or show, and it becomes a success or failure despite what the critics say. 

I’m not talking about so much what critics actually say, but the Rotten Tomatoes score itself. I think a lot of folks just look at the score and let that determine if it’s a good movie or no, regardless of what this or that critic says.  I think most folks also don’t even realize what the RT score means. I think they see 50% and think an overall F grade, when in reality it means the folks at Rotten Tomatoes determined that 50% of the critics in a certain pool gave the movie a positive review and 50% didn’t, a judgement call which itself is subjective. I didn’t see Black Adam but was it that bad? I don’t think Shazam 2 was that bad. Quantumania wasn’t that bad. I think the system is Rotten.

On 4/5/2023 at 1:03 PM, drotto said:

As others have mentioned, thr MCU should have followed the more traditional comic model after a big event, GO SMALL. Go back to street level stuff, go back to smaller more personal stories.  This all came to a head with QM.  Ant-man solo is a small scale hero, so plugging him into a world ending event, did not fit the character.  This was compounded by the last 4  movies all being world ending events at some level.  

 

They kept trying to go bigger and bigger, but it was hard to be bigger than Thanos. So even with, it's the end of the world again, maybe!!  The audiences shrugged.  So if they had gone small and gotten people to invest in characters again, smaller casts, personal stories, when the world was going to end again, people would have cared.

 

They also need to get away from streaming shows being so integral.  These should be good side stories, but need to be written as skippable.  The way Secret Invasion is set up, this again going ro be an issue.  In addition, these shows have TINY audiences in comparison to the movies.

Ultimately, Marvel Studios needs to get good with the critics again, that is, making movies that they’ll give a thumbs up, because that Rotten Tomatoes score is everything now, I think. It’s what folks look at first to determine if it’s worth seeing. You can have the coolest trailer in the world, but if critics pan it, it’s over. I think Scorsese’s criticism of comic book movies kind of gave movie critics a hunting permit and now they smell blood in the water with comic book movies.  So it’s best if Marvel and DC don’t chum the waters with weak susceptible films. Don’t make world building the point. Do that in the credits like the old days. I think critics don’t care about world building. I know casual moviegoers could care less about it. Just make a good story with compelling character journeys that critics will review positively, and the rest will follow I think. And if there’s any doubt, don’t release it until there’s no doubt. 

On 4/5/2023 at 12:25 PM, D2 said:

I love where you guys are going with that. The Age of Ultron wasn't an age at all.

The “Age” in Age of Ultron doesn’t refer to an era, but rather to Ultron’s actual age in days, hours, and nanoseconds. Ultron’s age is a theme in the film as its goal is to rebirth itself in the Vision. This theme is reiterated at the end when the last Ultron bot tells Viz “You’re unbelievably naive”, to which Viz responds with the clever backatcha line “I was born yesterday,” before disintegrating it and capping its “death age” at a few days.

On 4/4/2023 at 10:45 PM, drotto said:

This was far more of a comment on how the MCU does not follow the comics at all at this point, and the original Secrete Invasion was a good story.  None of the elements necessary to tell that story really exist in the MCU, and too many of the characters are missing. It is yet another case were the writers have very superficially taken a few elements from the original story, and seem to have crafted one that is at least 80% new. For those that love the comics and loved the original story, it is this type of disregard for the source material that gets old. They are shamelessly trying to pluck member berries and nostalgia (even if the story is newer), and comes across as inauthentic. I have no really clue what this is really going to be about. I want it to be good because SLJ has been very good in the MCU thus far. But with the current writing problems at Marvel, I am concerned  in their ability to rewrite the story. 

The MCU mishmashes stories from the comics to make something new, which I like. If the movies were just exact word for word live action versions of the comic book story, I think I’d find that boring. Avengers Infinity War/Endgame bore little resemblance to the Infinity Gauntlet comic, and it was great. There’s a surprise and freshness to it when they craft a new story (loosely based on the source material).

One thing I loved about the Captain Marvel movie was that they took so much from the comics, like the secret military base, Mar-Vell’s Dr Lawson identity, the Skrull mind probe, the Kree colors, the Kree explosion that gives Carol her powers, her amnesia, her Binary powers, and the Kelly Sue Deconnick story elements, and mashed it together to give us a new updated story. Most of the MCU movies are this hybrid of many comics stories into one new story.

Secrete Invasion seems to be two parts the original event series, but also one part the great Meet the Skrulls limited series, a solo Furry story, whatever else, and something new. I’m looking forward to it.

On 4/3/2023 at 1:53 PM, drotto said:

The comics rally have become just very lose suggestions.  For instance, the trailer just dropped for Secrete Invasion.  Marvel says there are few if any people with superpowers in it. Umm, OK?  The original story was heroes being replaced, and infiltrating in all levels of the worlds givernments. The Skrull Queen and Spider-Woman were key components. The MCU series is about Furry, and the Skrulls known to be hiding on Earth, and I guess infiltrating governments. So basically, it will be Secrete Invasion in name only, and is really just a Spy show about Furry with some Scifi elements. 

 

We haven’t seen a full appearance of present-day Nick Furry since Captain America Winter Soldier, where the fall of SHIELD had life implications for both Furry and Cap. For Steve Rogers, he lost his faith in institutions, an outlook that played out in Civil War and ended the Avengers. For Furry, he became a rogue soldier, but we never really saw the implications played out except in cameo bits. It looks like Secrete Invasion is a continuation of Furry’s story from Winter Soldier.

On 4/3/2023 at 9:56 PM, thegiftedone45 said:

Every time I see this I think power rangers.

I thought Teletubbies

On 4/3/2023 at 11:01 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Have you ever even watched professional wrestling?  

Not since I was a kid and I’m very curious how the WWE applies here.

On 4/3/2023 at 4:22 AM, Bosco685 said:

On 4/25/2021 at 7:52 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

And as I said over in Falcon's thread, I do not think the Skrulls will be the invading alien force in the Disney+ series.

Better edit that Falcon thread post.

Everything we’ve seen of Skrulls in the MCU is that they’re allies of Nick Fury and Earth. So why on Earth would they suddenly be an evil invading alien farce? It would make no sense in the larger MCU story.

From the official story synopsis, trailers, and rumors so far, the “bad guy” Skrulls appear to be a faction of disgruntled Skrulls that were installed on Earth as a spy network put in place by Nick Fury himself to do the work that SHIELD could no longer do, and who have now gone rogue. And that this faction includes Talos’ daughter, G’iah. Perhaps we can assume that these rogue Skrulls developed alternate plans after the Snap that don’t fit with the new world order after the Blip. Either way, Secret Invasion seems less like a wholesale alien invasion of Earth and more like an inside job by Skrull mutineers.

On 4/1/2023 at 3:55 PM, Mr Sneeze said:

You know full well your being disingenuous.

I admit I was being slightly disingenuous in my response to your last post, but I’ve been 100% sincere in my responses to drotto, Gatsby, and others concerning this whole art thing about which I’m done debating now. 

On 4/1/2023 at 2:33 PM, Mr Sneeze said:

This is classic trolling 

No, trolling is posting obscene and demeaning memes over in the Captain Marvel thread. What we’re having here is an actual debate of the artistic merit of cinema versus a comic book in a forum dedicated to discussion and debate of cinema and comic books.

On 4/1/2023 at 1:40 PM, drotto said:

Well ok your opinion, completely ignoring that art is subjective, and art is about creativity and talent is one's chosen area, not what that area is. Ask a thousand people and you will get very different answers as to what the highest form of art is, and what the hierarchy is. You feel it is currently movies, many would disagree. Again, that is OK, it is your opinion, but you can not force it on others. If we take just the story telling part, which movies and comics share, both are capable of conveying a superior story, one is not inherently better than the other. IMHO, mass popularity does not equate greatness. I would also argue that an artform that can be created by a single individual, requires more talent, then one that by nature requires a collaborative effort, and is usually not one person's vision.

 

But, we digress, and we are arguing in circles.  I'm done. 

Fine. And I’ll leave with this statement. What one considers to be the best art form is debatable. That film ranks among the highest art forms today and is a higher art form than a comic book is, to me, not debatable.

While the most artistic films combine the work of many craftspeople and several different artistic disciplines into one art form, a highly artistic film still answers to one vision, the director’s.

Finally, if we’re still comparing the art of cinema to the art of the comic book, cinema simply dwarfs comic books when it comes to the amount of books on the subject, the amount of academic study and university-level education dedicated to its study, the amount of artistic recognition in the world in the form of awards festivals media and journalism, its effect on the world today, and the diversity of lives it reaches throughout the world. 

Okay now I’m done.

On 3/31/2023 at 11:10 PM, Mr Sneeze said:

All you really have to say is, imho.

IMHO, the fact that cinema is a higher art form than a comic book is a fact.

First appearance of G’iah, matriarch of a Skrull spy family on Earth posing as a normal American household.

On 3/31/2023 at 3:05 PM, drotto said:

If you honestly think that other art forms can't do all of this, I really pity you. Any concert I have been to has had 20X the energy of any movie theater I have every been in. We have art museums that attract millions of visitors every year.  People travel the world to witness ancient architecture and sights. 99% of movies are forgotten within one or two weeks. Companies have turned movies into content most are not art. Movies are product, and product is only relevant in the now. Consumed then forgotten. Not saying I do not enjoy movies, but they are disposable and usually products of their time, few have staying power or lasting cultural impact. Those that are made as art and not mass content, are rarely successful, and 99.999999% of people don't even realize they exist.  This is the reason the Oscars have become irrelevant.  This years winner may be a bit of an exception, but it will still be forgotten. 

You might have missed the part of my post where I said human society TODAY is dominated by two mediums of art: cinema and music. I guess you could lump a Taylor Swift concert with 20X the energy of Chantal Akerman's film "Jeanne Dielman...", which is now considered by some to be the greatest film ever made, into that statement. I also believe I qualified my statement by saying I'm not talking about historic works of art sitting in a museum. Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling may be considered one of the great works of European art, but artists don't become legend these days by painting the walls and ceilings of Catholic Churches anymore. I'm talking about NOW. Art that is produced today and that changes the way we think and feel TODAY. Yes, I know all sorts of art can do this, even comic books. But here's a question: where are the Winslow Homers (painting) and the John Singer Sargents(painting) and the William Shakespeares(theater) of today? Answer: they're making movies.

On 3/30/2023 at 9:54 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Fair.

But - and this is my opinion here - I still disagree.

I would choose to reread:

• The Watchmen
• The Dark Knight Returns
• The Killing Joke
• Sandman (#s 10, 13, 18, 19, 30, 50, 52)
• Animal Man # 5
• 100 Bullets # 27
• Wonder Woman (vol. 2) # 20

and many more...

over watching Tokyo Story, Cinema Lights, and *many* "classic" movies.

Plus both film and comic books are considered pop art or low art.

As such, they have far more in common with each other than they do in comparison to the world's best oil paintings, wood cut prints, sculptures, cathedrals or architecture.

It's always been my contention that if Leonardo DaVinci were alive today, he'd choose filmmaking as his artistic medium of choice. If one were to cut off the past and forget everything that came before including known art history, film and music are the two art forms that dominate human society today.

Film combines all the arts, writing visual theatre music fashion, into one symphonic piece that can elevate the soul and speak to the human experience as much as anything else and moreso.